Blackbellies in north Florida!

[bassfisher02]

My stepdad and I went out to finish up one of our duck blinds today on Lake Miccosukee and saw a very large amount of ducks, in the 1000's. Should be a good season hopefully. After finishing up the blind, we went over to the Aucilla River to scout the area, and we noticed some odd birds flying around the area. The birds acted a lot like coots, only dumber, yet didnt look like them. My stepdad said they looked like Blackbellies, but he never heard of any being this far north before. Blackbelly ducks are native to central america and mexico, and are in southern florida and texas, but none have been reported this far north. We were able to get with 15 feet of them, and used binos to make sure they were actually blackbellies, and sure enough they were. about 18 of them. Although i dont think they will be alive to much longer considering they are about dumb as nails. But hopefully many people hunting the area wont recognize them as ducks.